People see challenges to libraries in funding, in ebooks, and in the internet. However, in this information-rich age, librarians' roles are even more important. They are information experts. They know how to think about the changing information environment, and they know the impact--both positive and negative--it can have on people whose jobs…

Libraries throughout the world are increasingly involved in the production of scholarly publications. Much of this has been thanks to the growth of open access (OA) publishing in all its forms, from peer-reviewed "gold" journals to "green" self-archiving, and electronic theses and dissertation (ETD) repositories. As a result, more and more of the…

Formed in 1996, Internet2 is a not-for-profit advanced network consortium led by the U.S. research and higher education community. Its goals are to provide leading-edge network capabilities and to facilitate the development, deployment, and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. Starting with 34 universities, Internet2 has grown to more than…

Even in the best of times, librarians have to be concerned about funding. Librarians who are faced with reducing expenditures have to consider which of them are essential for the institution to fulfill its mission. With all the changes that today's information technologies have brought, the library's role both now and in the future is not as…